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noellelovesbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings: Murder, death, gore, suicidal thoughts, attempted rape, mention of child grooming and predatory behavior, war themes, and genocide.
I’ve heard so many amazing things about the writings of N. K. Jemisin and decided I needed to dive in. The world-building within these pages is beautiful and has me desperately wanting to explore more within this realm. The characters are complex and well-rounded and have me wanting to know more about all of them.
We bounce between a few different perspectives while reading, which I always love in general, but especially in fantasy novels. What one character could see as helpful and good another could easily see as harmful and bad. I feel all great stories show us that nothing is ever fully evil or fully good but in fact are shades of grey that depend on your experiences and perspective.
I will say this book felt a lot heavier to read than most fantasies I’ve read lately. Recently I’ve read fantasies that have a small subplot, of romance, to where I sometimes ignore a lot of the darkness and chaos going on around and focus on the hope and happiness that romance brings to a story. Where there are characters, within this story, that fiercely hold on to the hope of a better future for their lands it was hard to ignore the darkness they faced. Really this is just a me problem where I yearn for everyone to have a happy ending and, just like real life, that’s just not possible for everyone.
This was one of those books where I also thoroughly enjoyed reading through the author’s notes, interview, and dictionary listed after the story ended. Hearing what inspired the lore and world Jemisin wrote was really fun to read and has me wanting to dive back into the world mythology, and religion, obsession I had in my youth. The interview in the back was also fun as you could see their friendship where the banter and teasing have you wishing you were a fly on the wall during that interview.
If you’re looking for a fantasy novel with political intrigue/manipulation, a fascinating magic system, war themes, and characters with strong compasses…this will be a great read for you!
I’ve heard so many amazing things about the writings of N. K. Jemisin and decided I needed to dive in. The world-building within these pages is beautiful and has me desperately wanting to explore more within this realm. The characters are complex and well-rounded and have me wanting to know more about all of them.
We bounce between a few different perspectives while reading, which I always love in general, but especially in fantasy novels. What one character could see as helpful and good another could easily see as harmful and bad. I feel all great stories show us that nothing is ever fully evil or fully good but in fact are shades of grey that depend on your experiences and perspective.
I will say this book felt a lot heavier to read than most fantasies I’ve read lately. Recently I’ve read fantasies that have a small subplot, of romance, to where I sometimes ignore a lot of the darkness and chaos going on around and focus on the hope and happiness that romance brings to a story. Where there are characters, within this story, that fiercely hold on to the hope of a better future for their lands it was hard to ignore the darkness they faced. Really this is just a me problem where I yearn for everyone to have a happy ending and, just like real life, that’s just not possible for everyone.
This was one of those books where I also thoroughly enjoyed reading through the author’s notes, interview, and dictionary listed after the story ended. Hearing what inspired the lore and world Jemisin wrote was really fun to read and has me wanting to dive back into the world mythology, and religion, obsession I had in my youth. The interview in the back was also fun as you could see their friendship where the banter and teasing have you wishing you were a fly on the wall during that interview.
If you’re looking for a fantasy novel with political intrigue/manipulation, a fascinating magic system, war themes, and characters with strong compasses…this will be a great read for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Murder, and Death
Minor: Child abuse
bestknownfor's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting
Minor: Child abuse and Death of parent
fhirdiad's review
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Bit slow going, especially at first, and a bit of an anti-climatic end but the emotion in this book is visceral and the worldbuilding - even when it’s confusing - is beautiful and interesting. Nijiri was such a compelling character and was mainly the reason I finished this; he doesn’t seem to be in the sequel and I didn’t enjoy this enough to continue with the series but it’s not bad and it just makes me want more books about magic surrounding dreams.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault
whatellisreadnext's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?
𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘧, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.
Gatherers keep the peace in Gujaareh, harvesting the magic of dreams, helping to heal and to soothe. Ehiru, a gatherer, stumbles upon a wrongness bleeding into the city. Someone, or something, is murdering innocent dreamers.
This duology was released 3 years before The Broken Earth Trilogy (my favourite trilogy of all time), and I can't help but feel like Jemisin hadn't quite found her voice yet as an author. Feeling like only a shadow of her incredible writing in The Fifth Season.
One of the things I loved about Broken Earth, was how attached I was to the characters, that even in their dullest moments, I was happy just to be with them. Whereas, in The Killing Moon, I felt detached, I struggled remembering the names of certain characters, I mixed up Nijiri and Ehiru so many times. It just felt as if I was watching the story unfold, but I was never really a part of it.
Something I did love in The Killing moon, was the magic system. Gatherers harvest dreams, they ease people into pain-free death, they feast on these dreams and become soley dependent on them. This was fascinating to me and is probably the main reason I will be picking up the next installment.
I think if I had gone into this book, not knowing who N.K. Jemisin was, I probably would have enjoyed it so much more. Don't let my review put you off, but if you haven't experienced her writing yet, definitely start with The Fifth Season 😁
𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘧, 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.
Gatherers keep the peace in Gujaareh, harvesting the magic of dreams, helping to heal and to soothe. Ehiru, a gatherer, stumbles upon a wrongness bleeding into the city. Someone, or something, is murdering innocent dreamers.
This duology was released 3 years before The Broken Earth Trilogy (my favourite trilogy of all time), and I can't help but feel like Jemisin hadn't quite found her voice yet as an author. Feeling like only a shadow of her incredible writing in The Fifth Season.
One of the things I loved about Broken Earth, was how attached I was to the characters, that even in their dullest moments, I was happy just to be with them. Whereas, in The Killing Moon, I felt detached, I struggled remembering the names of certain characters, I mixed up Nijiri and Ehiru so many times. It just felt as if I was watching the story unfold, but I was never really a part of it.
Something I did love in The Killing moon, was the magic system. Gatherers harvest dreams, they ease people into pain-free death, they feast on these dreams and become soley dependent on them. This was fascinating to me and is probably the main reason I will be picking up the next installment.
I think if I had gone into this book, not knowing who N.K. Jemisin was, I probably would have enjoyed it so much more. Don't let my review put you off, but if you haven't experienced her writing yet, definitely start with The Fifth Season 😁
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence
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